A book review

Books for Living  By Will Schwalbe

What I love more than book is books about books. 

I heard about this actual book before its official release while I was listening to The New York Times Book Review podcast ( the book is now released). I immediately pre-ordered the book on Amazon, and counted down the days... It was worth it. This particular book took me through completely a different experience. In addition to highlighting the importance of reading in our time, Schwalbe discusses some books that left a great impact in his life (sometimes they even changed it). He also shows us how books can define who we are and who we will become after reading them. He said in his book introduction: 

"... there's one question I think we should ask of one another a lot more often, and that's "what are you reading?" ... [it] isn't a simple question when asked with genuine curiosity; it's really a way of asking, "who are you now and who are you becoming"

My year in books (Part III)

My top 5 

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

As you noticed so far, I read lot of memoirs. I am a huge fun of this genre because it gives me a glimpse of people lives. I can live as many lives as I wish through memoirs ….

This particular one has a great impact on me. I still remember the day a close friend sent me a link about the first review of this memoir by The New York Times. I read the review, and I immediately bought the kindle version from Amazon. I went to the terrace (because it was strangely a warm and sunny January day) with my favorite drink, and I started reading. I fell in love with it from the first page. What an incredible book!! It really changed something deep within me, and I will always remember it.

This book won the best memoir title for 2016 on Goodreads, and The New York Times chose it among the top 10 books of the year. I’ve already written a review about this memoir. You can check it here. Give this book a try. I bet you won’t regret it.

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Another great memoir. It starts with the following:

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”

Although this is a legendary memoir, I didn’t come across with it until I read a book about writing memoirs (see Part I), and I am glad I did. McCourt told the tale of his childhood. A childhood that will make your eyes wet at least once. I was comfortably sitting in my favorite couch for reading; yet, his words made me feel the cold wet feet he lived with. A painfully honest memoir that made my heart melt. Give it a try.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

This was the last book I read for this year, and OMG! What a memoir!

Trevor Noah is a standup comedian. I first knew him from The Daily Show. I like his jokes and his accent. I adore is laugh and I love his mimicry. Add to it a really handsome face and a sexy voice!! What a great combination!

When I heard about his book, I couldn’t help but buy it and spend the needed time with it. To be honest, I expected to be disappointed (like it happened to me with Schumer), but I wasn’t. To my surprise, it was a great memoir. Not only well written, but it had a combination of pain, humor, and wisdom. Trevor told his story in an honest open way. A south African childhood isn’t an easy one. Yet, he made it out with a huge success. What attracted me the most, is his mother personality. She is a wonderful mom. A strong rebellious woman, who refused to let her environment dictate her life standards. With a mother liker his, how can he be anything but a good man? Lucky him, and all my respect to his mother.

Hey, a small tip to enjoy this memoir the fullest: listen to the audio-book version. It is read by Trevor himself. His sexy accent and voice imitation will take you to another dimension. Every evening, I would turn off the light, crawl into my bed and let the audio play while I close my eyes and listen carefully. I sincerely felt I was watching a movie, not listening to an audio-book.

Great job Mr. Noah!

My year in books (Part II)

Books That Disappointed Me

In this part, I mention the books that I read and regretted reading them. However, this is my own opinion, and you my disagree ... 

After you by Jojo Moyes

Well, this was the first book I read this year. I started it by the New Year eve, and ended it the next day. I wanted my first day of the year to be a little romantic, as I was single at the time, I thought a romantic novel can help. I was so happy to find out that “Me before you” has a sequel, but I was very disappointed after reading it (as much as I was after watching the movie). It ruined everything the first story was about. In short, I was disappointed and I don’t recommend the book for “Me before you” fans to avoid the disappointment.

The girl on the train by Paula Hawkins

To recover from that disappointment, I decided to pick up something new for me to read. I checked the best books for 2015 in different categories, and I realized I never read any thrillers in my life. So, I picked 2015 best thriller so far … and I was disappointed again. The story was so boring and long …. I just didn’t (still don’t) understand how it was chosen as the best thriller for 2015 !! I have no idea if I will ever read thrillers again … By the way, this book was adapted for a movie this year , and no, I won’t watch it.

Who moved my cheese? by Spencer Johnson

After failing with the fiction books I started my year with, I went back to my favorite category: nonfiction, and I chose this book, recommended by a friend. It was another disappointment. A boring story to give a good lesson. This is one of the most famous books in the world about … life I guess. The lesson can be applied to different fields. The book is not long (only 96 pages), but I believe the story could be told in much less pages. I just didn’t like it. It was not for me. So, I can’t recommend it. I read much better books about business and management (mentioned in other parts).

My year in books (part I)

Useful books

Some of my New Year’s resolutions for 2016 were improving my writing skills and working on my productivity issues. Therefore, I read couple of books about these matters. Here are the ones I recommend for you in case your next year’s resolutions are similar to mine.

Writing

The first writing book is “The Art of Memoir” by Mary Karr. The title attracted my attention while I was walking through Chapters bookstore during my last visit to Canada. The book stayed on my shelves for months, before I finally decided to read it. Karr has already three popular memoirs, and she is a writing teacher. She offers very useful advice and tips about how to write a memoir. In addition, she provides lot of examples from different memoirs, which allowed me to discover more interesting books. If you are planning on writing your own memoir or someone else’s, I highly recommend this book.

The second writing book was “Voice: The Secret Power of Great Writing” by James Scott Bell. I remember it was recommended to me on Amazon. I read it in one evening in summer time. I really liked it. As the title indicates, the book is full of simple direct advice for new writers to find their own way of writing. I highly recommend it, too.

Productivity and self- help:

One of the best books published this year about productivity and self-help was “The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy”, by Chris Bailey. Bailey took a whole year doing nothing but diving into different experiments for the pursuit of productivity. The results were a well-written and informative book. It pushed me to read further about different topics. If by any chance you plan to make your 2017 a productive year, then give this book a chance. It is worth your time.

This book also helped me realize that what keeps me from being a productive person is always bad habits. To learn more about the matter, I read “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg. This is a famous book that provides interesting information about how habits are created and, consequently, how they can be stopped. So, go ahead and learn how to stop your worst habit.

Sex Object: A Memoir by Jessica Valenti
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The beginning of this book was nice. I felt she, somehow, was telling my story ... And this was the trick in this book: a common story. Too common that it became boring chapter after chapter.
Once i got to the second part of this book, I realized it is not as informative as I thought. And in most cases, she made herself " a sex object". She didn't care much about anything but drinking and having sex. How can she blame men for anything?
Yes, there are bad rape and sexual harassment stories out there, but I don't think this book is about any serious case.
On the other hand, the title of the book was misleading. Especially in the last part, when she focused only on her marriage and daughter .... Her life seems to be perfect compared to what other women are going through. At some point, I called her "selfish spoiled woman".
I do fight to get some women rights ... But not about bullshit women (and men alike) put themselves in.
By the way ... She made me hate NY city. It seemed full of perverts and pedophiles. And for the first time I felt i live in a very safe place (in a third world country).
After all, I can't judge her. I just didn't like the book and I don't think it is worth reading.

View all my reviews

Into the remarkable memoir: “When Breath Becomes Air”

by Paul Kalanithi

“If I had some sense of how much time I have left, it’d be easier. (…) Tell me three months, I’d spend time with family. Tell me one year, I’d write a book. Give me ten years, I’d get back to treating diseases.”

Most people (me among them) live their lives procrastinating their dreams for next month, next year or even next decade. Unfortunately, death take most of them by surprise before realizing those dreams. Paul had a plan to spend two decades of his life in neurosurgery, then the next two decades as a writer, not realizing that death is going to pay a visit much earlier than he could ever imagine. 

“When Breath Becomes Air” is a memoir about dreaming, working hard, and facing death with courage and a final touch. After the tremendous effect this book left on me, I consider it a life-changing book, and I recommend it to EVERYONE.

Continue reading the review on our Idea Magazine .

     

                                                                                                                    Merry

A New Book Review

After You (Me Before You #2)

By Jojo Moyes 

This book is an unexpected sequel of a famous novel called “Me Before You”. Thus, before reviewing it, I should give my opinion about the first part of the story.

“Me Before You” was – and still – one of my favorite novels I ever read. It was full of passion, empathy, and simplicity. I remember the first time I had the book in my hands as a gift from my cousin which I met for the first time in my life face to face (because he lives in Germany). He knew how much I love books based on my Facebook profile, so he decided to surprise me with a small gift, and I can say it was a very good choice.  

Continue reading the article on our Idea Magazine 

                                                                                                                          Merry

The best books I've read this year (2015)

It is already the end of the year, and I just finished reading another book. It was a busy year for me, so I couldn’t read more than 15 books (for the whole list, visit this link). I chose the best 5 books among them that you may like to start your new year with ... Enjoy! 

WHY SCIENCE IS WRONG...: About Almost Everything By Alex Tsakiris

The title of this book was intriguing enough for me to check it immediately and buy it from Amazon, right after reading the short review Bill Gates wrote about it. Since the first pages, you will realize the book isn’t about all kind of science, it rather focuses on life and consciousness. In explaining his title, Tsakiris says: “Science is wrong because it assumes your consciousness (i.e. your mind… your awareness… the voice inside your head) is an illusion— and it’s not!”.  

Continue reading my article on Idea Magazine 

                                                                   Merry

A Thousand Farewells

by Nahlah Ayed 

A national bestseller with a new epilogue

  Even though this book was and will always be special for me, I took a very long time to finish reading it (you can see it on Goodreads).  That was for two main reasons. 

  First of all, the book was a gift from a Canadian friend with whom I spent my four months visit there in Canada. So, whenever I pick up this book, I remember her, her little house, our walks, and her long talks about the Middle East situation. She never judges us (Arabs and Muslims). she respects me and my traditions and culture so much. I really liked her. Especially when she starts analyzing my personality and suggesting some solutions and habits to move out of my dark spot I was in by that time. She keeps saying I am exactly like her young daughter (she is as old as me). 

Passages from 

The Tale of Genji (潤一郎訳源氏物語)

It was a long novel full of different love stories. I found it as a Japanese version of "One Thousand and One Nights", which is not my favorite kind of books. Even though I didn't finish the whole book, I still can say it was a nice and different experience. Here are some passages I loved:

"We vowed that we would go together down the road we all must go. You must not leave me behind."

She looked sadly up at him. "if I had suspected that it would be so--" She was gasping for breath. 

"I leave you, to go the road we all must go. The road I would choose, if only I could, is the other."

__________________________________________________

"The autumn night is too short to contain my tears...

Child of The Dark

The Diary of Carolina Maria De Jesus

I started reading this book when I was going through some of the worst days I ever had. I failed badly, and I have no idea how to face it. As usual, I needed to read a book to forget about my pain when I can't fall asleep. I didn't choose this book by myself, but a friend gave it to me. So I started reading it, and I loved every word and every feeling no matter how simple they were. 

  If you check the story for Carolina Maria book you will understand that she was a very poor woman, surviving by collecting papers and cans and food from garbage. That's exactly what attracted me the most when I started this book. 

  Her diary is divided into 3 periods:

The Good Women of China

Hidden voices 

by Xinran 

Here is another book I read recently,  and I really enjoyed it, not in a funny way at all, but I've learned from each story a new lesson. I believe that if a book don't teach you something new, then it is not worthy. This book deserved the time I had to steal from my busy days (busy with studies). Sometimes I was reading while I wait the bus, then I continue reading in the bus, which caused me troubles when I miss my stop. Other times I was reading it while I was eating my breakfast or lunch. And of course, whenever  had troubles sleeping, I would just grab it and forget my pain by living other women' sorrow. The most important lesson I got from these stories, is that time cannot really heal broken hearts not lost souls. Some wounds are meant to remain open and painful, forever.

In the following I reviewed briefly each story in the book, so everyone can have an idea if the book is interesting for him/her.

1. My Journey Towards the Stories of Chinese Women :

"What was a woman's life worth in China?" I can say this was the main purpose behind writing this book. 

2. The Girl Who Kept a Fly as a Pet:

" I used to dream that my pain could be cleared away somehow,  but can I clear away my life? Can I clear away my past and my future?"

That was really a very touching story. A little girl who suffered from her father sexual abuse and her mother giving up on her by accepting the abuse, decided to commit suicide while she was already sick in the hospital using her favorite animal friends:'flies'. It wasn't an easy story to read when I knew the facts are real. How can any father do this to his daughter? How can any mother scarify his own girl to keep a family? What kind of family did she really kept? What did they feel after losing their daughter? How happy was she when she was dying?

3. The University Student:

Forgiveness: A philosophical exploration

By Charles L. Griswold Jr.

It was a very good book. I liked the simple way the author explains his ideas even though I am not a philosopher. 
He addressed the subject of forgiveness (from two dimensions: interpersonal and political) in a very organized manner. Issues and conclusions are discussed fairly and completely. 
Well, I do recommend it to whoever loves philosophy, or who is studying forgiveness and moral concepts in any field. 

Enjoy :)

Merry         

Two books I enjoyed Last July

Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte

التوحيد والتفسيخ بين سياسات الإسلام والكفر

by Siddiqui Kalim (see the book on Goodreads)

هذا الكتاب- رغم قدمه- هو بحث صغير حجما و كبير فائدة. يبين فيه المؤلف حالة الأمة الإسلامية اليوم و أسباب إنحطاطها (الفوضى ,التفرقة و التقسيم و إهمال العلم,الإنسلاخ و الإنحلال و حركة الاستشراق, فصل النموذج الموحى عن النموذج البشري,التبعية الشاملة)
 كما يذكر بعض السبل للنهوض بها من جديد مثل: توعية الجماهير المسلمة و توحيد الأمة الإسلامية باتباع النموذج الموحى -القرآن و السنة - و النموذج , الأسمى - الإسلام , النظام و العلم

See more books I loved. 

Trust, Complexity and Control: Confidence in a Convergent World by Piotr Cofta
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

a good book for those who want to work on trust in computer science field. I loved the way the author explains the basic concepts and facts. you will enjoy it and forget you are reading a scientific book.

View all my reviews